India State of Forest Report 2019 Highlights & Important Points – APSC Exam Notes

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India State of Forest Report 2019 – Highlights & Summary

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India State of Forest Report 2019 - Highlights

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The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar released the biennial, India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The report is published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which has been mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country including wall-to-wall forest cover mapping in a biennial cycle. Starting 1987, 16 assessments have been completed so far. ISFR 2019 is the 16threport in the series.India is among few countries in the world where forest cover is consistently increasing.

 

Major Highlights

  • The total forest cover of the country is 7,12,249 sq km which is 21.67% of the geographical area of the country.

  • The tree cover of the country is estimated as 95,027 sq km which is 2.89% of the geographical area.

  • The total Forest and Tree cover of the country is 8,07,276 sq km which is 24.56% of the geographical area of the country.

  • The current assessment shows an increase of 3,976 sq km (0.56%) of forest cover, 1,212 sq km(1.29%) of tree cover and 5,188 sq km (0.65%) of forest and tree cover put together, at the national level as compared to the previous assessment i.e. ISFR 2017.

 

 

TOP 5 States in terms of increase in forest cover:

  1. Karnataka (1,025 sq km)

  2. Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km)

  3. Kerala (823 sq km)

  4. Jammu & Kashmir (371 sq km)

  5. Himachal Pradesh(334 sq km)

 

  • Forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 2,84,006 sq km, which is 40.30% of the total geographical area of these districts. The current assessment shows an increase of 544 sq km(0.19%) in 140 hill districts of the country.

  • The total forest cover in the tribal districts is 4,22,351 sq km, which is 37.54% of the geographical area of these districts. The current assessment shows a decrease of 741 sq km of forest cover within the RFA/GW in the tribal districts and an increase of 1,922 sq km outside.

  • Mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km (1.10%) as compared to the previous assessment.

  • The total growing stock of wood in the country is estimated 5,915.76 million cum comprising 4,273.47 million cum inside forest areas and 1,642.29 million cum outside recorded forest areas (TOF). The average growing stock per hectare in forest has been estimated as 55.69 cum.

  • Total bamboo bearing area of the country is estimated as 1,60,037 sq km. There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in bamboo bearing area as compared to the estimate of ISFR 2017.

  • Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) represents the largest pool of carbon stock in forests, which has been estimated 4,004 million tonnes. The SOC contributes 56% to the total forest carbon stock of the country.

  • There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.83% of the area within the RFA/GW of the country. The total number of wetlands located within the RFA/GW is 8.13%.

  • Amongst the States, Gujarat has largest area of wetlands within RFA in the country followed by West Bengal.

  • Dependence of fuelwood on forests is highest in the State of Maharashtra, whereas, for fodder,small timber and bamboo, dependence is highest in Madhya Pradesh. It has been assessed that the annual removal of the small timber by the people living in forest fringe villages is nearly 7% of the average annual yield of forests in the country.

 

TOP 5 States with largest forest cover (Area-wise)

    1. Madhya Pradesh

    2. Arunachal Pradesh

    3. Chhattisgarh

    4. Odisha

    5. Maharashtra.

 

TOP 5 States in terms of forest cover as a percentage of total geographical area

    1. Mizoram (85.41%)

    2. Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%)

    3. Meghalaya (76.33%)

    4. Manipur (75.46%)

    5. Nagaland (75.31%)

  • Total Mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km. An increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2017.

  • Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).

  • The total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated 5,915.76 million cum of which 4,273.47 million cum is inside the forests and 1,642.29 million cum outside. There is an increase of 93.38 million cum of total growing stock, as compared to the previous assessment.

  • The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been estimated 16.00 million hectare. There is an increase of 0.32 million hectare in bamboo bearing area as compared to the last assessment of ISFR 2017. The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, slowly an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.

  • Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 21.3 million tonnes, which is 78.2 million tonnes CO2 eq.

 

FACTFILE - India State of Forest Report (ISFR)
  • The biannual report is prepared by The Forest Survey of India (FSI), a body under MoEFCC, which conducts surveys and assessment of forest resources in the country.
  • The information given in the report will serve as an important tool to monitor the country’s forest resources and plan suitable scientific and policy interventions for its management. It will also serve as a useful source of information for the policy makers, planners, State Forest Departments, line agencies involved in various developmental works, academicians, civil society and others interested in natural resource conservation and management.
  • The India State of Forest Report 2019 is 16th such report in the series. In line with the Government of India’s vision of Digital India and the consequent need for integration of digital data sets, the Forest Survey of India has adopted the vector boundary layers of various administrative units upto districts developed by Survey of India along with digital open series topo sheets, bringing about full compatibility with the geographical areas as reported in Census, 2011.
  • Forests play a vital role in water conservation and improve the water regime in the area. Considering the importance of water bodies in forest, FSI has assessed water bodies in forest cover for the decade 2005-2015. As per the assessment, there is an increase of 2,647 sq km in the extent of water bodies inside forest cover between 2005 to 2015.
  • The report contains information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock inside and outside the forest areas, carbon stock in India’s forests and forest cover in different patch size classes. Special thematic information on forest cover such as hill, tribal districts, and north eastern region has also been given separately in the report. The report for the first time contains information on decadal change in water bodies in forest during 2005-2015, forest fire, production of timber from outside forest, state wise carbon stock in different forest types and density classes.
  • Forest Survey of India (FSI) has been assessing the forest and tree resources of our country on a biennial basis since 1987. The results of the assessment are published in its biennial report titled “India State of Forest Report (ISFR)”.

 

India State of Forest Report 2021 – Highlights & important findings

 

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